US President Joe Biden has announced new guidelines in line with COVID-19.
The guidelines require employees who work at big companies to mandatory receive the coronavirus jab.
Failure to do so, they will face weekly testing.
The measures also include a vaccine mandate for millions of federal government workers.
“This is not about freedom or personal choice, it’s about protecting yourself and those around you,” the president said as he publicized his plan.
Biden unveiled his plan during a speech at the White House yesterday.
He said he had given a directive to the US Department of Labor to ensure all private businesses with 100 or more staff to receive the jab or request proof of a negative coronavirus test from employees weekly.
He added that close to 17 million healthcare workers at facilities receiving federal benefits will also face the same requirements.
Other guidelines include doubling of fines for passengers on planes who refuse to wear a mask, invoking the Defense Production Act to accelerate the creation of rapid at-home testing kits, deploying healthcare workers to areas experiencing a rise in cases and increasing the weekly pace of shipments of free monoclonal antibody treatment to hospitals.
Despite 80 million people remaining unvaccinated in the US, the new rule now targets to vaccinate about two-thirds of all US workers.
Meanwhile, more than 650,000 Americans have succumbed to COVID-19 since last year.
By Everlyne Bosibori
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